Novato eyes looser rules for hotel dimensions

A proposed Residence Inn hotel in Novato, as depicted in a design rendering, would include 103 rooms. Transient occupancy taxes from hotels bring in more than $1.6 million per year for Novato. (Courtesy City of Novato)

Hotels could be allowed to take up greater floor-area ratio in some parts of Novato under a plan to study the idea during environmental review of the city’s general plan.

The City Council on Tuesday voted 3-2, with Councilwomen Pam Drew and Pat Eklund opposed, to study what it would mean to allow hotels in areas with restrictive standards more room to expand. A greater floor-area ratio allows a building to take up more space on the land on which it sits.

“All we’re doing is studying and getting analysis of the impact of different floor-area ratios for hotels,” said Councilman Eric Lucan. “More information is always better and that can help us as we are making decisions in the future.”

Hotels, typically a significant tax generator for cities, can be hindered by zoning codes, Novato officials said. Hotels are usually larger than retail and office buildings because of the needed room count and lower parking demand. With the city planning to reduce the allowable floor-area ratio in the North Redwood Boulevard corridor, from Olive Avenue to San Marin Drive, city staff recommended considering expansion of allowable floor space for hotels hoping to continue attracting them to the city.

The floor-area ratio for developments will be reduced in the corridor as the area’s land use designation is set to switch from industrial use to general commercial usage in the updated general plan, which is expected to be adopted by the City Council in 2018.

Residents at community gatherings in 2014 expressed a desire to see the industrial corridor transformed into a “vital retail/entertainment/dining area with outdoor gathering places,” according to a city staff report. The city’s governing bodies threw support behind changing the general plan land use designations in the area to accommodate general commercial.

The land use change will reduce the allowable floor-area ratio from the existing commercial and industrial limit of 1.0, which allows full coverage of parcels, to the maximum 0.4 under general commercial for retail spaces and 0.6 for office or recreational use.

If the allowable floor area is not modified for hotels, lodging developments could not be built in the area. The existing Americas Best Value Inn at 7600 Redwood Blvd. would be unable to expand or renovate if heavily damaged or destroyed in a natural disaster, said Bob Brown, the city’s community development director. The change could also put the brakes on a 103-room hotel with retail proposal at 7546 Redwood Blvd. between Olive Avenue and Atherton Avenue.

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“A lot of cities have special provisions for hotels,” Brown said. “They’re high-tax generators, they’re desirable. They’re low-traffic generators during commute periods and helpful in drawing visitors to use local businesses.”

Transient occupancy taxes from hotels bring in more than $1.6 million per year for Novato, or $3,400 per hotel room a year, according to a staff report.

The cost of studying an expanded hotel floor-area ratio in the environmental review of the updated general plan is expected to cost the city between $3,000 and $5,000.

The environmental review kicked off in July. A draft of the study is expected to be published early 2018. The City Council expects to consider adopting the updated general plan in spring 2018.

Drew could not be reached before the story went to print. On Thursday, she said she understood that hotels generate a significant amount of revenue for cities, but she does not want to see an overabundance of hotels in Novato. She said a commons area open to all residents is needed in the space connecting the North Redwood Boulevard corridor and the city’s downtown.

“I feel like if there’s to be a change in game plan, there needs to be an opportunity for the people to know about it and weigh in,” she said.